One million doses of fentanyl seized in New York enough to kill 'hundreds of thousands'

Authorities say the haul amounted to 1m of the synthetic prescription opioid, often used as a painkiller.

What is fentanyl, the opioid drug 50 times stronger than heroin?Newsweek

Police in New York State say they have arrested three men that were in possession of 1m doses of the lethal painkiller fentanyl, enough to kill "hundreds of thousands" of addicts.

Authorities in Long Island announced on Saturday (28 October) that they had seized 750 grams of the synthetic prescription opioid from a home in Mastic Beach.

Fentanyl is used by some drug dealers to add to heroin or cocaine to increase either drug's potency, but has been implicated in the deaths of thousands of drug-users.

Often dealers use the dark web to order super-strength fentanyl from the far east and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said the extremely potent Long Island batch was shipped from China.

Sini said according to CBS News that the haul was enough for one million doses on the street that was "potentially enough fentanyl to kill hundreds of thousands of individuals".

Three men, Corey Robinson, 24, Thomas Moore, 41, and Daequane Rickenbacker, 25, were arrested at a house on Edwards Avenue, and were charged with different offences.

Robinson was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, Moore charged with obstructing government administration, while Rickenbacker was charged with loitering.